The tales of the ANBU captain
by Daemonic
Summary: This tells about the days of Itachi before the Uchiha slaughter. The legendary ANBU captain. ON HAITUS, I have a few other fics on my priority list.
1. Prologue

Sorry about not putting the disclaimer up the first time I poster this. I've been writing original stories so long that I nearly forgot to do this. So to avoid further mistakes like this, this disclaimer applies to every chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did I'd go ahead and put the anime to the time skip, and I would make Neji or Itachi the main character.

Prologue: The ANBU captain

A man with dark brown hair ran through the forests on the outer rims on the fire country. His clothes resembled that of a beggar, with ripped gray clothes and his feet were bare. His pants, which now looked closer to shorts now, were so dirty you could almost swear that it was a mixture of brown and deep red. His face was cut all over, and blood covered his face and stained his short sleeved shirt.

"Damn ANBU." He muttered to himself as he continued to run. He stopped for a moment to listen for footsteps or the sound of people landing on tree branches. No sound presented itself except for the crickets singing their nightly song. The man smiled and continued his sprint.

The man managed to make it to a lake just near the border, and he figured since he was so far ahead of the ANBU squad chasing him, that he could stop for a quick drink and refill his flask. The moment he bent over he felt the point of a sword against his back.

"Zoburo Fachisi." The voice from behind him spoke. "You have left Konoha without permission, you expected us to follow you, and yet you drop your guard. I expected someone like you to be better considering three Jonin are dead because of you."

"It was a sneak attack and luck." Another voice shouted.

"QUIET!" The first voice said. "Fachisi, you are going to die."

"We're supposed to return him!"

Fachisi turned around and saw three men in ANBU uniform. The one behind him wore a mask resembling that of a weasel. The second one who also spoke wore an owl's mask, and the last one wore a mask that resembled a cat.

"Itachi-kun?" Fachisi asked.

The ANBU in the weasel mask looked back and nodded. "Good bye." Itachi swung the sword; Fachisi moved back and fell into the lake.

Itachi began to do three hand seals. Flame erupted from his mouth in a glorious flash and evaporated the majority of the water, however, Fachisi was nowhere to be seen.

"A clone, I see." Itachi murmured.

The ANBU in the owl's mask turned to his left and saw two Fachisis standing on the same branch of a tree, and they both began four hand seals. Both the Fachisis leapt to the ground and placed their hands on the earth, and stone pillars began shooting up out of the ground making their way towards the three ANBU.

Itachi did the same seals and returned the jutsu back at Fachisi. Itachi's copy of the jutsu managed to stop Fachisi's attack, and then Itachi followed up by throwing two kunai, making one hit the other to his both Fachisis in the face. Once they both hit them, they vanished.

"He relies on clones too much." The ANBU in the cat's mask said dully.

The ANBU in the owl's mask leapt to one tree behind him and used it to help him jump from tree to tree hoping to find Fachisi. After about ten jumps, he stopped. "He tricked us."

Itachi looked at the ANBU, and a faint red glow could be seen through the eyeholes of his mask, "Follow me."

Fachisi smiled to himself, constantly thinking of how he outwitted the best of the ANBU. He looked forward and turned pale when he saw Itachi standing five yards in front of him. It was almost pitch dark where he was because the forest canopy was so thick it shielded the ground from most of the moonlight. The only way he saw Itachi was the faint glow of his sharingan from the light of the moon.

"You're not getting away." Itachi growled.

Fachisi made the same four seals for the stone pillars, and Itachi did the three seals for his blaze jutsu. Once the stone pillars came up, Itachi blew the flame and melted the pillars.

Fachisi leapt towards Itachi and began his taijutsu combinations. He entered with a whirlwind kick from the air, and his foot met Itachi's face. However, to Fachisi's horror, he saw that this was also a clone, and the clone exploded, causing Fachisi to fly through a tree.

Fachisi soon recovered and continued his run; however his speed wasn't as fast as it once was because his lack of stamina. _"DAMN IT!" _Fachisi scolded himself _"I used too much chakra!"_

His sprint continued, constantly striving to find some place to escape his relentless pursuers. His blood now dripped into his mouth, causing him to cough violently, almost making him fall while running. His side began to ache after a few more minutes of running, and his vision became blurry.

He turned around towards where he believed his pursuers might show, and prepared himself for the worst. As he took a final drink from his flask, he felt a little revitalized and ready to take whatever came to him.

The three ANBU landed in front of Fachisi. The silence was almost eerie when it lasted for five minutes, and then Fachisi spoke, "I'm not going back. I'll never go back alive."

"I wasn't intending on taking you back alive." Itachi's words his Fachisi like stone. Itachi put his hands together preparing to perform hand seals. Fachisi attempted to be the faster one and performed five hand seals. Once Fachisi touched the ground, more pillars shot up from the ground, but the other two ANBU members smashed through the pillars. The one with the owl's mask performed a water dragon jutsu, and the other smashed through the pillar with a devastating kick.

Fachisi backed up two steps and performed the same five hand seals, except he added horse at the end of it, and stone pillars flew out of the ground and looked similar to giant senbon as they propelled themselves at the three ANBU.

Itachi remained where he stood and every pillar missed him. The other two jumped to the side, and the owl masked ANBU performed the three hand seals, and then everything became blurry to Fachisi for a moment, then a tree surrounded him and the ANBU appeared in the tree holding a kunai. Fachisi smirked and performed a genjutsu dispel.

"You're going to have to try harder than that!" Fachisi yelled.

Itachi stood right behind Fachisi and did his three hand seals for blaze and once again, a fantastic flame shot out of Itachi's mouth. Fachisi's right sleeve caught on fire, but other than that, he avoided it. Fachisi shifted to his side and threw twenty shuriken at Itachi, who caught each one.

The ANBU Uchiha glared at the overconfident, bloody fugitive with his glowing red eyes. Itachi had such a murderous look in his eyes.

Fachisi leapt back and concentrated hard on his next move, but to his dismay he took too long and the ANBU with the owl's mask on had already performed his five hand seals, and prepared to attack again. When he placed his hands on the earth, stone came up around Fachisi and bound him inside.

The ANBU in the owl's mask gave a thumbs-up to his captain, and Itachi stepped forward. "Zoburo Fachisi." Was all Itachi said, and then he performed a few hand seals far faster than the naked eye can see, and his blaze flew from his mouth to the stone mound. Once the smoke cleared, nothing remained except for a pile of ash.

"That was a bit much, don't you think?" The ANBU in the owl's mask asked.

"We were given the job to chase him, and as ANBU, we need to do what is best for our country. Got that Katsiru?" Itachi growled.

The ANBU in the owl's mask flinched. "Whoa, now you're getting patriotic aren't you?"

"No, I'm telling you that to shut you up, now move." The young captain walked back towards Konoha with extreme calm despite his cross attitude.

"What do you think of this Han-san?"

"Well," The ANBU in the cat's mask began, "As long as we got the job done it doesn't matter to me. I'm just ready to get back home and relax, my legs are aching!"

"Pansy." Katsiru muttered.


	2. Itachi sensei

I know I said the 1st disclaimer was for all the chapters, but I'm doing this just to be safe.

Diclaimer: I don't own Naruto and probably never will.

Chapter 1: Itachi sensei

Itachi hated mornings all the time. He always slept in because he stayed out so late. Itachi hadn't even opened his eyes yet, but they already burned from the dim light that seemed to break through his eyelids. He already knew the first person who would speak to him and what he would say.

"Son, you need to buy an alarm clock!" Fugaku always said that in the morning. Itachi always responded the same way, telling him that every alarm clock he has received or bought has been broken whenever he was irritable in the morning.

"I hate being the oldest son." Itachi seldom wished that, especially out loud. But he is like us all when he wants to sleep in, but when he has a responsibility to do he does it, even if he occasionally procrastinates.

Itahci finally sat up after about five minutes of refusing and rubbed his eyes. Once he opened them he closed them tightly again. No preparation in the world could prepare him for the glare that the sun reflected off the floor. This made him feel even more foul that before. Then he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, making way towards his room.

"Look father, I'm not buying another clock, I just need to get my sleeping pattern back in check." Itachi spoke in an aggravated tone.

"Fugaku-san left a while ago, he asked me to check up on you if you slept in too late." A familiar voice said.

Itachi managed to open his eyes enough to see who had just spoken with him and a smirk appeared on his face, "Shisui-kun."

Shisui smiled, "I was beginning to worry that that mission had killed you. I heard Fachisi was quite the fugitive."

Itachi's smile faded, "Shisui, what time is it?"

"It's almost noon."

Itachi nearly shouted in fury, but his consciousness, common sense, and pride helped him keep his composure. "I'm going to meet Hokage-sama, I'll see you when I get back, there's something I would like to speak with you about."

Shisui left and Itachi scuffled through his clothes, looking for then ANBU outfit, which he couldn't recall where he had thrown it the night before. The window still seemed to make Itachi irritable; the light was still relentless. His room wasn't that big, so he didn't have much space for anything. At the bottom of the clothes pile he found his cleaner ANBU outfit and began to wear the clothes, then once he finished, he charged out the door heading for a meeting, which he was already late.

Sarutobi sat at a table, sitting across from Katsiru and Han. Itachi opened the door slowly, walked in, closed the door and sat down in between his other two squad members.

"You're late, Itachi-kun." Sarutobi mumbled.

"I know." Itachi said calmly. "I apologize."

Sarutobi stood up and began pacing around, "I have to say, Fachisi was quite the fugitive, killing three of our highest rank on ninja and managing to elude us until nightfall. Yet three chuunin took him down. I had my doubts at first but I must say…it was a good idea for Katsiru to volunteer your squad for this."

Itachi glared at Katsiru but said nothing.

"Anyway, I have another assignment for you three, individually though. Katsiru, I believe that there is some talk of a possible break through the southern wall of Konoha. We have yet to trust Cloud just yet so we are going to keep our defenses tight. Han, I want you to patrol the western area."

Katsiru and Han bowed and took their leave. Sarutobi looked at Itachi, "Your lateness is not exactly the most admirable thing for a member of ANBU, much less a captain. Perhaps you should get an alarm clock."

Itachi could almost swear that Saruitobi could feel the anger emanating from him, but he looked the third in the eye and responded, "Yes, Hokage-sama. What assignment do you want of me?"

"I would like for you to supervise the training of a few genin. It won't be much of a task. You will be paid a good sum of money, which you can use to buy a clock." Sarutobi grabbed his tobacco pipe, lit it, popped it into his mouth and began to enjoy a good smoke as Itachi left the room.

_"Supervise genin?" _Itachi thought. _"I'm not a sensei, and I doubt they will listen to me." _Itachi looked up and smirked, _"They might make good punching bags. They'll train with me."_

The memorial stone was almost always vacant for training purposes. The only person who visited it on a normal basis was Hatake Kakashi, and as a matter of fact, he was standing in front of the memorial when Itachi arrived.

"Hello Kakashi-san." Itachi said blankly.

"Oh, hello Itachi-kun. What brings you here?" Kakashi scratched the back of his head and smiled. Itachi noticed that in his right hand, he held a copy of the newest Make-out paradise book.

"I can't believe you read that crap." Itachi muttered. "That old pervert isn't much better, but it seems a waste of time to read things like that."

Kakashi put the book into his back pocket nervously, "It's not just about the explicit things. It has a good story behind it as well!" Kakashi soon regained his composure. "You never did answer my question, what brings you here?"

"I'm supposed to supervise some genin in their training. They should be arriving soon. Hokage-sama assigned this to me personally." Itachi looked to the side with a bit of a cross look on his face.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Kakashi laughed. "I would ask you to have fun with it. I plan on teaching some genin soon enough." He looked over to the memorial and noticed the shadow next to it. "It's getting a bit late for me to be here. I'd better take my leave."

Itachi also noticed the shadow, and looked at the jonin quizzically, "It's only noon."

"A shinobi's work is never done. I'll see you some other time." Kakashi waved goodbye and walked down the hill. Moments after they left two boys and one girl made their way up the hill. Once they reached the top, they all looked at Itachi for a moment, then the tallest of them spoke.

"You're our replacement sensei?" He asked.

"It depends on how you act. If you don't stay in line, I will be an enemy instead of sensei." Itachi was already to activate his sharingan, because that kid looked like he was already going to pounce on him.

The kid who just spoke wore a tan t-shirt, and wore his headband on his right arm. He had blue pants, and his sandals were the standard blue ninja sandals. He had brown hair which was very short to the point where he would have a buzz-cut if it were any shorter, and hazel eyes. The look on his face showed that of a belligerent person. Even though he was twelve, he almost reached Itachi in height, but it still didn't matter to him.

The second boy was a bit shorter, and seemed to not want to make eye contact with anyone. He wore a red coat with gold buttons, and since it was open, his white shirt shown from beneath it. He had black pants and also had the same sandals. His hair was also black and it reached down to his shoulder-blades, and his eyes were brown.

The girl had red hair, and a pink, short-sleeved shirt. She wore blue pants and also had the same sandals. She had a tattoo of a heart on her left shoulder, and her eyes looked extremely timid and her hair went down to her waist.

Itachi looked at the timid kunochi, "You're a little young for tattoos aren't you?"

The girl looked at Itachi and spoke softly, "I had a boyfriend when I was in the academy and…his older brother knew how to make tattoos and I…um….decided to get it."

Itachi nodded. He was inclined to ask if she was too young to have a boyfriend, but he wasn't here to get a life story. He looked at the three genin and folded his arms. "Okay, so what are your names?"

The tallest one spoke first. "My name is Jakano Sizoro, and this guy here is Chinai Nibiri."

"I want him to introduce himself." Itachi said coldly.

The girl spoke up, "Um….he can't talk…he's a mute."

Itachi wanted to strangle each of the genin after that, then go give a piece of his mind to the sensei who decided to make a rain check, then to Sarutobi who assigned him to this in the first place.

"I see, so what's your name?" Itachi asked the girl.

"Unica Rei." She whispered.

"So Sizoro, Nibiri, and Rei." Itachi thought aloud. "Let's begin. I want each of you to spar against me. You'll have five minutes to knock me down. If you can do that, I can teach you new things. In other words, I doubt you'll learn anything today."

Sizoro scowled, "You underestimate us!"

"You underestimate me." Itachi said darkly.

Nibiri looked Itachi in the eyes, shook his head and looked away again. Sizoro was the first one to make a move, and he leapt in with a seemingly deadly kick. Itachi moved the foot away with a gentle push with his left hand. Nibiri took advantage of Itachi's short preoccupation and performed a few quick hand seals and small balls of fire erupted from his mouth. Sizoro turned around quickly and began attacking in almost relentless taijutsu maneuvers, yet Itachi managed to dodge every attack from both Nibiri and Sizoro. Rei finally decided to attack as well. She created two clones and the three charged to join in the attack.

"You three know how to work as a team, I'll give you that." Itachi spoke with a blank face. "Your attacks aren't exactly the greatest, however."

Sizoro performed some hand seals and the earth wrapped itself around Itachi's legs. Then Nibiri performed the same maneuver as before and incinerated their temporary sensei. However, to their disappointment, a log was in its place. The three rookies looked around nervously in attempts to find their challenger, when Itachi rushed in and knocked Sizoro back with two punches that launched him into the air and a kick to the abdomen that sent Sizoro into a nearby tree. Rei was caught off guard with this and leapt back and created two more clones to add to the two she already had. Nibiri performed a few different hand seals and caught Itachi in a genjutsu maneuver, which made Itachi see a copy of him, ready to attack.

"Not a bad genjutsu technique, for a genin." Itachi blinked and the genjutsu lost its effect. "Three more minutes, rookies."

Sizuro looked at Itachi in complete rage. He performed a few more hand seals and before he could touch the earth, Itachi grabbed his wrist and used his opponent's momentum against him to flip him on his back. Nibiri performed another fire technique, Itachi recognized it as Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Itachi quickly moved out of the way to avoid the giant flame. Nibiri was one step ahead but still missed for he soon found out it was a clone he was targeting. Itachi walked out from behind the memorial and sighed.

"You people need to think more than one step ahead of your opponent. I haven't had to use anything that merits you three. I thought this would be entertaining, but now I'm surprised you all made it to genin."

Sizoro leapt towards Itachi and began to use furious taijutsu combinations, and Rei and her clones assisted the best they could, while Nibiri used ninjutsu support. However, Itachi still remained unimpressed and not entertained. Itachi leapt on top of one of the logs and began to hop back and forth to dodge Nibiri's fire attacks. Sizoro met Itachi on top of one of the logs and continued using taijutsu, and once the combinations stopped, Itachi looked at the rest of them and frowned.

"You three have one more minute. Use it wisely." Itachi moved from the top of the log to the ground, and Sizoro used another earth style technique, which launched small rocks to take Itachi off guard. Rei created several more copies and was now swamped by about ten Reis while taking elemental attacks from both Nibiri and Sizoro. Then Itachi performed a roundhouse kick so powerful it mowed down all the clones, leapt in the air and knocked Sizoro off his feet with a devastating punch to the face, then dashed over to Nibiri, twisted his arm behind him and pushed him to the ground.

"Time's up." Itachi mumbled. He brushed himself off, and the three genin rose to their feet.

"What did we do wrong?" Sizoro shouted in anger. Nibiri shook his head and looked at his teammates with pity. Then he looked at the sky for a moment, then focussed his attention to Itachi. Rei merely looked away in bashfulness.

Itachi pulled one kunai and shuriken out. "You see these?" He asked. Everyone nodded. "These are to be used. If you had used them, you might have been able to hit me, because you use these to catch me off guard." The three genin merely glanced at the ground.

"So what have you all learned?" Itachi folded his arms after he put the tools away.

"That you're a son of a…" Sizoro stopped quickly when he saw Itachi's eyes change from normal to sharingan. Then Sizoro shouted in disbelief. "You're one of those Uchiha? No wonder we couldn't win!"

Itachi chuckled inside of his mind, agreeing with Sizoro for the first time. Then he responded, "Just because I am an Uchiha doesn't mean anything. You still could have been able to hit me if you had used more than your own hands and feet." Then he looked at Nibiri. "And you, you seem to be able to perform jutsu that is well ahead from a genin that just graduated. I suggest you keep it up and learn a few new tricks. Well, I'm leaving. You've got your lesson for today."

Itachi hated Katsiru.

Katsiru had invited Han, Shisui, and Itachi to come and meet at a restaurant somewhere in the southern part of town, and Katsiru sent a message to Itachi at the last minute telling him that they have already started. And of all things, the messenger delivered it to Sasuke rather than the person who it was meant to belong to. Katsiru was a dead man.

Katsiru and Han were both two years older than Itachi, however as awkward as it would be for most people to command two people older than you, it didn't bother Itachi in the slightest. The three of them were chuunin, and were all currently fine with their rank.

Itachi put on his everyday clothes and left for the restaurant. Then Fugaku called for Itachi right before the ANBU captain left the Uchiha compound.

"Yes father?" Itachi asked.

"I really wish you would tell your mother and I when you decide to leave." Fugaku folded his arms and looked at Itachi crossly.

"I'm just going to meet with Shisui and the others. I won't be gone long."

"You're also never at home. You're either on a mission or hanging out with your friends. In two days, we are having a family dinner. You will join us."

Itachi was extremely reluctant about responding it in the way his father wanted to hear, but gave in nonetheless. He just prayed that Sarutobi didn't give him any lengthy missions so that he can keep his family off his back.

Itachi had finally made it. Shisui was the first to notice Itachi, and waved to him to let him know where they were. Itachi sat down next to Han and looked at the menu. Then put the menu down. "I'll just have some ramen."

The night was far too long for Itachi, and he had a major headache. All Katsiru could talk about was his boring mission once they received their food. Itachi was halfway done with his bowl of ramen by the time Katsiru got halfway into his story.

"So," Katsiru continued, "We were standing on top of the wall, I was halfway asleep when someone decided to pull a prank on me and push me off the wall, and when I did…"

When Katsiru got into a story, he got into a story. So much so that when Katsiru told about how he managed to stop himself from meeting a fated death with the dirt, he made an arm motion that splattered Itachi's hot ramen all over Itachi's face.

Itachi hated Katsiru.

A/N: There's the official first chapter of my story. How'd you like it? Review and tell me what I need to fix.

Too boring?

Too vague?

Too something?

Tell me!

Thanks for reading!


	3. The messenger boys and the gay prank

Screw what I said in the prologue about the disclaimer applying to every chapter. Here I go.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

X X X X

Chapter 2: The messenger boys and the gay prank

Itachi had gotten home late…. again. Therefore his sleep was deep, and his dreams were vast. Although like most people, he could never hold onto a dream for long, whether he wanted to or not. But he enjoyed sleep nonetheless. Days in ANBU were tiring for anyone, but staying out extremely late at thirteen will wear any teenager down at his age.

_Buzz…buzz…buzz…buzz…_

_"What…?"_ Itachi thought groggily.

**_BUZZ…BUZZ…BUZZ…BUZZ…BUZZ!!!_**

Itachi immediately jumped to his feet and smashed the alarm clock, which had raised him from his rest. His breath became heavy from the surprise, and his thoughts were angry at his father, who was undoubtedly the person who placed it in there in the first place. He glanced at the time before the clock finally died. It read six in the morning. He felt his stomach growling and decided he might as well eat while he's up.

When he arrived in the kitchen down the hall from his room, his mother was up already making breakfast. He smelled eggs and bacon, something he hasn't eaten in a long time. He decided to sit down and relax for a second, but he refused to get too comfortable, he knew that if he fell asleep both Fugaku and Mikoto would scold him.

Itachi yawned and looked at his mother, she turned to Itachi and smiled lovingly, "Good morning Itachi!"

"Good morning, mother." Itachi said with a soft smile on his face. "Is father up?"

"Yes, he's out getting me some butter and milk, but he'll be happy to see the alarm clock worked."

Itachi nodded and responded, "Yes, but he'll be brought down by the fact that it no longer exists, it's now an ornament for my floor."

Mikoto shook her head and made tsk'd three times, "Why do you destroy things like that?"

Itachi looked to the front door, leaned the chair back on its hind legs and sighed, "I hate buzzing noises."

Mikoto decided to drop the subject, deciding it was useless to convince her son that getting an alarm clock will benefit him. She returned to her work and began humming some tune that Itachi could not recognize.

The ANBU captain stood up and walked outside. He felt the morning chill and began to rub his arms like it was going to stop it. Then he saw his father coming back, and when he saw Itachi, he smiled.

"I see the alarm clock worked!"

"Yeah, I love it." Itachi said sarcastically.

Fugaku walked into the house and slid the door shut behind him. Itachi shrugged and glanced over what he could see of Konoha. A small mist covered everything. He walked over to the wall with the Uchiha fan on it and leaned next to it, he felt relaxed here whenever he had nothing better to do, which was seldom. He almost always had work, but then again that was when he slept in. Busy days occupied his life now, and he didn't know whether to feel blessed or cursed. Then he weighed the fun missions with the tedious ones and dropped the thought from his mind when the fun missions outweighed the others.

"Itachi, breakfast is ready!" Mikoto called out. Itachi pushed himself off the wall and walked back to his home with a steady pace. Once he arrived in, everyone was sitting at the table, and Itachi decided to sit down with a content look on his face. Then a few seconds later, everyone began to enjoy their meal.

Itachi had not had such a good breakfast in a while. He thanked Mikoto for making it, but was still agitated by his father giving him an alarm clock. Itachi stood up and noticed it was about eight, and Itachi got his tools together, and decided to go meet Sarutobi without his ANBU uniform, and just try to enjoy whatever mission that he was given.

X X X X X X

Itachi arrived at the Hokage's office, opened the door slowly and walked in slowly. The only other person in there aside from Sarutobi was Han. Han looked back at Itachi and was surprised to see his captain on time.

"It's good to see you this early, Itachi." Sarutobi smiled as he took a puff from his tobacco pipe.

"My father helped me wake up this early."

"I'll have to thank Fugaku-san." Sarutobi chuckled.

Han nodded at Itachi and said, "I don't think Katsiru is going to join us. Didn't he volunteer to do guard duty one more day?"

Sarutobi nodded and Itachi winced. The last thing he wanted was to be near Katsiru when he told another story about guard duty. His face still tingled from where the hot ramen splattered all over him.

"What is my mission today, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked.

"I have decided you and Han shall do this task together. I need you to make a visit to the Hyuga estate to deliver a message, and I would like you to return here. This shouldn't take you but about two hours to do so, so be ready, because I will have a second task."

Han and Itachi bowed and took their leave after receiving the message. Once they walked about ten yards from the building Han asked, "When did Hokage-sama decide to give us tasks like these instead of what ANBU usually does?"

"I suppose there isn't any major crisis happening that requires ANBU to step in. So until then we are just like anyone else." Itachi placed the scroll in his right hand and began to walk at a pace where he was content. Han followed closely behind and asked another question.

"So why do you suppose he sent both of us out to do this?"

"No more questions."

Han grunted and just watched the people in the path ahead of them moving this way and that to get to their work or for the academy students to get to where they learn. Itachi seemed oblivious to this, however he dodged the oncoming traffic of pedestrians with such dexterity it almost seemed impossible for the fact he still gazed at the sky with extreme boredom. Han became jostled in the crowd and lost sight of Itachi for a moment. When he saw Itachi again, he saw the entrance to the Hyuga compound.

"It's been a while since I've been here." Itachi mumbled loud enough for Han to hear him.

"I haven't been here at all; I haven't even seen a Hyuga for so long. I wonder why they haven't been as active as the Uchiha clan.

Itachi glanced over to Han with a slight cross look on his face, "Perhaps because you've never bothered to find a Hyuga."

The two walked in slowly, and Itachi wasn't surprised at all to find Haishi of all Hyuga, to be waiting there for them.

"Welcome boys. I'm sure you're here for a reason." Haishi deactivated his byakugan.

"I'm sure you already know why we're here and what this message says, so don't play dumb with us." Itachi threw Haishi the scroll. "So what is the response to this message?"

Haishi opened the scroll and looked over it. Itachi activated his sharingan to see if he could read the message based off the reflection in Haishi's eyes. Itachi smirked for a second and deactivated his sharingan when Haishi looked up.

"Tell Hokage-sama that I'll see what I can do, until then, let the owls do the job."

Itachi nodded and signaled Han to follow him. Han quickly caught up to Itachi and looked him in the eyes. "You may have been able to fool Haishi but you can't fool me. I saw your sharingan and I saw you focusing. What did the message say?"

Itachi showed no emotion in the face but was laughing in his thoughts. "It doesn't matter. It's the Hokage's business anyway." Han looked disappointed and decided to ask again later, maybe when Itachi is tired or intoxicated. Han began to walk in front of Itachi with a much faster pace so that he could arrive at Sarutobi's office to ask about the message.

X X X X X X

Itachi arrived back at Sarutobi's office and saw Han looking at the floor with a defeated look on his face. Itachi could tell what had happened and decided to let a small smirk escape from his thoughts. Then he turned to Sarutobi and said blankly. "Haishi responded that he will se what he will do, until then, let the owls do the job."

Sarutobi nodded and waved his tobacco pipe in front of his face, "Good job, Itachi, Han. Now, the second task is has been taken care of by Katsiru, and of all things…" Sarutobi began laughing, "It was an accident!"

Itachi hated Katsiru.

Sarutobi regained his composure, "The job was to oversee demolition of the old western gate so we can rebuild a better, sturdier gate."

"How in the world do you destroy a gate by accident?" Han asked skeptically.

"They said he was getting supplies for the guards patrolling the area, and was using a carriage pulled by oxen. Unfortunately, he whipped them too hard and they ran straight into the gate, making it collapse."

Itachi hated Katsiru more than before. He clenched his fists in thought of strangling his clumsy ally. Han stood up and walked over to the desk. "So what do we do now, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi popped the pipe back into his mouth and responded, "You two can go about your business, I have no more tasks for you."

Han took his leave, Itachi remained and asked, "May I take tomorrow off?"

"Why?" Sarutobi asked quizzically.

"My father would like for me to stay with them for one day."

"Yes you may, Itachi. I'll get Katsi…" Sarutobi hesitated with his judgment. "…Kakashi to take care of that job."

Itachi found the hesitation humorous, but decided to leave before Sarutobi could notice.

X X X X X X X

Why did Katsiru bother sending Itachi messages like he does? Itachi wished he could figure this out, because once again, he requested a get together similar to the night before. Sasuke delivered the message to Itachi, and before Itachi was out the door to leave, he asked.

"You have tomorrow off, right?"

Itachi turned to his little brother and smiled, "Yes."

"Could I come along wherever you decide to go?"

Itachi thought through this thoroughly. He decided to agree because it had been ages since they have done something brother to brother.

"Thanks Itachi." Sasuke ran back into the house and Itachi began walking to the diner down the road.

When Itachi arrived, Shisui, Han and Katsiru were sitting at the bar instead of a table. They all had some sake, and Itachi detested most kinds.

"Hey! There he is!" Katsiru slurred.

Shisui apparently had not taken a sip of his drink; in fact, he pushed the drink away some time ago. Itachi walked and sat next to his best friend. Katsiru apparently had gotten into one of his stories, and was telling about the gate incident. Itachi had heard and seen things that Katsiru had done that was very similar, so this was nothing new to him. Then Katsiru stood up and sat next to Itachi.

"Heey Itachi!" Katsiru said in a flirty tone.

_"Oh god…"_ Itachi closed his eyes tightly and took a gulp, then reopened his eyes in hopes that he was an illusion. No such luck existed.

"I've been watchin' you lately!" Katsiru laughed. He was about to put an arm around Itachi when the ANBU captain snapped.

"Touch me and you loose that arm."

Katsiru laughed and took another drink. "Aww…come on…you know you're like that too!"

Itachi turned to Katsiru and activated his sharingan, "If you weren't drunk I would kill you now."

Katsiru laughed again and leaned real close to Itachi, "Come on, Itachikins…take a drink!"

"I'm leaving." Itachi pushed Katsiru away and walked out of the diner. When Itachi was out of sight, Katsiru let out a sigh of relief.

"I have never been that scared in my life." Katsiru poured the water out from his glass. "Shisui, I told you, if that bet had cost me my life, my family would have come and claimed you responsible. That act nearly killed me!"

Shisui and Han were almost on the floor laughing.

"Shisui, that was brilliant, and cold." Han complimented.

"Yeah, it was cold. I'll apologize tomorrow, but that was funny." Shisui wiped his eyes.

Katsiru grabbed Shisui by the collar, "Okay, I did the prank, now give me the currency."

Shisui smiled nervously. "Actually, I didn't think you would really do it, so I kind of don't have the money."

The diner had suffered a small scuffle that night.

X X X X X X X

Mean old mean Katsiru.

Did you like it?

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Tell me! Review or else I don't know the demand!

Chapter 3 should be up soon!


	4. Family reunion?

I know the prank Shisui, Han and Katsiru pulled on Itachi was just wrong, but bear with it all.

Thanks to Oc2le, Aesura and The twillight owl for reviewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXXX

Itachi suffered from insomnia. He lay wide-awake the entire night, waiting to be blessed with sleep. Unfortunately, all he did was stare at the ceiling. He knew he wasn't traumatized, because he knew Katsiru had a girlfriend who lived just down the road from the diner. He knew that dwelling on that scam was meaningless, because eventually, someone would apologize in hopes of escaping his wrath.

_"Apparently they don't know me too well…"_ Itachi thought to himself, _"They should know I don't waste my time with petty things like that."_

Itachi finally decided to get up and walk to Sarutobi's office, despite the fact that it wasn't even dawn yet. Sarutobi always posted the missions for the week up on his door if anyone was to arrive early or late. He slipped his sandals on and exited his house and the Uchiha compound making as little noise as possible to not awaken his family. He strolled down the streets, looking at the people who were preparing their shops for the early morning traffic. Itachi yawned and put his hands into his pockets, then someone called out to him.

"You're Uchiha Itachi, right?"

Itachi glanced over to where the voice came from, and saw a vendor at a nearby vegetable stand waving at him. Itachi walked over to the man slowly, and asked blankly.

"What is it?"

"You're heading to Hokage-sama's house aren't you?"

"Perhaps."

The vendor smiled and rubbed his short, scruffy beard, "Why else would you be out this early?"

"You're just saying that to act like you know me." Itachi began walking away, and the vendor realized he angered the teenager.

"I would like you to bring these vegetables to him!" The vendor held up a basket.

Itachi glanced back with the same expression on his face. "If you want me to do that, go submit the task at his office, I don't do things like this for free." And with that, Itachi left without saying another word.

XXXXX

Once Itachi arrived at the office, the door was closed and locked just as he expected. There was a bulletin board right next to the door with the missions for certain people for the next week. Of course, for today, Itachi had no missions. Then he looked at the next day and rose an eyebrow at what he saw.

A Rank Mission for Itachi, Han, and Kitsaru. 

_Mission: To catch a missing nin that goes by Nijo. Sources say that he was last seen near the village of sound._

Itachi turned around to begin walking back home. It was time to get his ANBU uniform prepared for tomorrow. It was about time he received a real mission instead of doing tedious chores. He smirked at the thought of being able to take care of this person just as he did Fachisi.

XXXX

Itachi took a small detour that cost him about an hour to get back at the Uchiha compound, and the entire family was up by then going by their daily lives. Itachi stepped back into his home and Sasuke was next to the door when he arrived.

"Hey Itachi!" Sasuke yawned.

Itachi looked down at his little brother. "Hello Sasuke."

His little brother looked up at Itachi with a small smile on his face. It almost seemed as if he had slept in. Itachi waited for the moment when Sasuke would say something, and then he realized why his brother was remaining silent. He was still eating his breakfast.

Mikoto stopped when she walked by Itachi and asked, "Where have you been?"

Itachi leaned on the wall and spoke so softly, Mikoto had to lean towards him in order to understand what he was saying. "I went to Hokage-sama's office to see what I had to do tomorrow."

Mikoto had a bit of a concerned look on her face when she saw Itachi's eyes. "What is the mission?"

"I have to go hunt down some missing-nin that goes by the name Nijo. It's an A-rank mission, so I probably won't be home for a few days." Itachi pushed himself off the wall and nodded towards his little brother, "Follow me."

Sasuke nodded and kept close to Itachi. Then Itachi knelt down and looked back at Sasuke, "Get on my back."

Sasuke hopped on Itachi's back, and the eldest brother stood back up and began walking towards the forest just outside the Uchiha compound.

"Hey Itachi," Sasuke began, "Could you teach me a few ninjutsu techniques?"

Itachi smirked, "Maybe later, Sasuke. Tell you what, I'll help you out when I get back from my mission."

"Okay." Sasuke agreed. "I would like to be better than anyone else in my class."

Itachi said nothing, but kept the smirk at hearing his little brother talk about his hopes and dreams. Once they arrived at a waterfall, Itachi stopped and let Sasuke off of his back.

"Why are you always angry when you come home every night?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I have a moron for a partner." Itachi replied. "Thanks to him, yesterday was uneventful, and he was acting strange later that night."

Sasuke knelt down and drank some water from the lake which the waterfall supplied water. Itachi lay on his back and glanced at the sky. It had been a while since he had been able to be this lazy.

"So what did you have to do yesterday as a mission?" Sasuke lay next to Itachi and watched the sky.

"I had to deliver a message to Hyuuga Haishi. Came straight from Hokage-sama himself."

Sasuke nodded, "Did you look at it?"

"I didn't see it directly, but I know what it says." Sasuke knew immediately what Itachi was talking about.

"So what did it say?"

"It's not important." Itachi replied while yawning. "So what do _you_ do while I'm gone?"

"When I'm not making visits to the academy, I'm helping things at home. I don't really leave home that much. There's every now and then I decide to walk around, and yesterday, I saw the western gate collapse." Sasuke chuckled a bit; "It was funny seeing whoever it was run those bull into the wall."

Itachi's lazy smirk turned into a frown. He had been trying to force that sight out of his head since he had heard about it. "Yeah, that person was Katsiru, the one who keeps sending you messages, my ANBU squad member."

"So _that's_ the moron you were talking about." Sasuke realized.

"Yes, he is." Itachi sat up and sighed. He glanced over to his little brother, and noticed how bored he looked. Itachi sighed once again, and looked at the sky, and noticed the clouds began to grow thicker and darker.

Itachi leapt up to his feet and turned to where he had just heard a sound from the heaviest area of trees. Itachi's face soon grew pale when he saw who it was.

"HELLO GOOD UCHIHA ITACHI AND SASUKE!!!" Gai had come out of nowhere, and this guy always scared Itachi, and he could never quite put his finger on why aside from the way he acted.

_"Maybe it's the spandex…"_ Itachi thought after he slapped himself on the front of his face. Gai walked over to Itachi and was prepared to give Itachi one of his trademark hugs. "Touch me and I'll show you why I'm the most feared ANBU captain. The same goes for Sasuke, now tell me…why have you come here?"

Gai made a thumbs-up and smiled, and the twinkle escaped from his teeth.

_"Yep…it's the smile…"_ Itachi realized why Gai scared him so much.

"The reason I have come here is to deliver a message from Hokage-sama. He wanted to know if you have stopped by his office today."

"I have, and I'm fully aware of the mission. I'll be leaving first thing tomorrow. Make sure Han and Katsiru know about it too."

Gai nodded and took his leave. Itachi grabbed Sasuke and put him on his back. "We're going back home."

"We just got here!" Sasuke said with a depressed tone.  
"It's about to rain anyway." Itachi began making way towards the Uchiha compound, but took his time getting there because he felt like enjoying the cool air that the dark clouds had provided.

"Konoha has been dreary lately…" Sasuke sighed when the two of them passed by Konoha square, where people could be seen doing their daily chores, and preparing to return indoors to avoid the coming storm. The entire village seemed a little too active, at this time of day and for this type of weather.

"The wind picked up…" Itachi whispered, then he closed his eyes and inhaled the air through his nostrils. "Let's go home before it starts to rain."

XXXXX

Why Itachi agreed to sit with his family at dinner was almost beyond him. He hated crowded places and above all, hated places with a lot of noise.

_"I thought when he said family dinner, he meant just the four of us. Not every Uchiha in existence."_ Itachi sat in front of his plate, and it had several assortments of food, Itachi scowled for a moment. _"I wish I had some dango…"_

Fugaku held a cup in the air and said aloud, "To the Uchiha!" Everyone held their cup in the air and repeated it in unison. When things quieted down, Itachi began eating his rice slowly, trying to enjoy the taste of the food his mother cooked for him. It was always something about her cooking which made it better than any restaurant could offer. He never could put his finger on it though.

Itachi had finished his plate about three minutes before anyone else did. Itachi never said a word the entire time, but his parents seemed happy that he was even there.

Then someone decided to say something to Itachi. "So Itachi-san! Why haven't you been here for days?"

Itachi saw a large man, who had a type of hearty laugh with everything he said. His hair was black and long, and he had a goatee. "What's your name again?"

The large man laughed, "My name is Ulrask! I wouldn't expect you to remember me! It's been ages since you've seen me."

Itachi took a small drink of tea, "I'm in ANBU. I've been on missions. Everyone here should know of this by now."

"You've been out in restaurants for the past few nights!" Shisui shouted from across the room.

Itachi shuddered in remembrance of what Katsiru did the night before, even though he knew it was a prank. It was all disturbing nonetheless. "It's only a fast meal then and I never stay long."

Ulrask just laughed and continued eating. Fugaku smiled at Itachi, and went back to eating after he realized his son would not return it. Mikoto seemed happy that Itachi enjoyed his meal. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Itachi however, was concentrating more on the upcoming mission.

Itachi finally decided to take his leave after everyone had finished their plate and wait in his room until nightfall.

His bed in the corner of the room remained untouched since he had left in the morning, the clothes remained piled up in the corner where he had always left them, and the spot where he sits next to the window was waiting for him as always. Itachi sat himself in that spot and watched the fuzzy glow of the sun behind the clouds vanish beneath whatever horizon it met.

XXXX

Itachi knew he had to leave at midnight. He always wanted to get a head start on the hunting missions, and this Nijo sounded like serious business. He gathered his ANBU uniform and put it on. His steps were slow and silent, as he didn't want to wake anyone from their slumber. When he reached the front door, Mikoto was waiting there.

"I wanted to say good bye." She said softly. She wasn't fooling anyone, her watery eyes gave it away she was upset about her son leaving. Mikoto embraced Itachi and almost whispered, "Be careful son."

Itachi returned the embrace and replied. "I will mother." Then he broke the hug and walked out the door.

XXXX

Katsiru and Han already knew how Itachi acted like about missions like these. Midnight was always the rendezvous time at Sarutobi's office. Itachi grabbed the mission paper and stuffed it in his pocket.

"We're leaving." He said firmly.

Han and Katsiru nodded. If any bystander saw the way they left, they would have sworn they were a type of genjutsu.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry for the long update

So there you have it! Did you like it? hate it? tell me!

It might be a while until I update. (I'm working on more than 1 fic here…)

Anyway, keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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